Discontinued images that you no longer wish to show in the Photo library should be removed (hidden). Do not delete them, however, as you may want to reuse them again in future. Instead, simply unpublish or archive the image.
Deleting images permanently removes them from the system. Therefore, follow best practice asset management protocol and simply unpublish or archive them — so they can later be retrieved, if required.
Apart from deleting, there are multiple ways to remove (hide) an image from the Image library:
- Unpublishing the image,
- Archiving the image,
- Removing Member Group permissions,
- Disabling the image.
Choose the method that best suits your purposes.
For an image to appear in the Photo library frontend, it must be published^^. Therefore, to hide an image from public view, yet retain it in the backoffice, simply unpublish it. Note that, by default, ‘Image Suppliers’ cannot publish or unpublish images. They can only upload images.
^^ Note that there is an exception to this rule. Privileged member groups (usually Editors & Admins) can be given access to these unpublished/archived images without logging into the backoffice. See “Frontend display settings” below for more detail.
When to use this method?
When images are first created, they are unpublished. It’s best to keep them unpublished until they are ready for release. Also, if you want to temporarily hide an image, simply unpublish it, as all image properties, member attributes and details are kept intact.
To unpublish the image:
- Select the image in the Media section tree.
- Select the ‘Settings’ tab in the edit area and click the Published toggle off.
- Remember to Save your changes.
Archiving the image
When to use this method?
If a previously published image becomes discontinued and is no longer needed, simply archive it. Archiving tells users that the image was once available but is now no longer current or in use. It should not be deleted, however, as you never know when you might need it again! Remember, some Government agencies require you to keep a copy of all assets for a period of seven years.
To archive an asset:
- Select the image in the Media section tree.
- Select the ‘Settings’ tab in the edit area and click the Archive toggle on.
- Remember to Save your changes.
Note: It is not necessary to unpublish an image if you simply want to archive it. Although unpublishing an image hides it from public view, unpublishing overrides the “Archive” state, so references to it will be flagged as “Unpublished” rather than “Archived”.
If you want to discuss the best method appropriate to your asset management needs, please contact our Professional Services team.
Publishing/Unpublishing and Archiving/Unarchiving in bulk
There are several ways to publish, unpublish, archive or unarchive multiple images in batch:
- By selecting multiple images within an image folder and “Batch Modifying” them via the “Edit” tool, or
- Via the “Publish all”, “Unpublish all”, “Archive all” or “Unarchive all” action in the context menu.
Tool: Batch Modify
Use this method when you want to make other edits (in batch), as well as publishing, unpublishing, archiving or unarchiving in batch. View the “Batch modifying images” page for more info.
Note that with this method, you can only batch a selection of images within one image folder only.
Action: Publish/Unpublish/Archive/Unarchive all
Use this method when all you want is to “Publish all”, “Unpublish all”, “Archive all” or “Unarchive all” the images within the selected folders. Note that this method runs the event on the contents of the selected folder as well as any nested subfolders it contains.^. Note that no other actions are available via this method. If you also want to edit keywords, metadata or any other properties (as well as publish/archive in the same action), then use the “Batch modifying images” method.
^ Depending on how many items are contained within, this could take some time, so always check folder contents to ensure thousands of media items aren’t being saved at once. Note also that when:
- publishing all, any items already published will be ignored and will not be republished.
- unpublishing all, any items already unpublished will be ignored.
- archiving all, any items already archived will be ignored.
- unarchiving all, any items already unarchived will be ignored.
To run the “Publish all / Archive all” events, right-click (Ctrl-click) an image folder, and select the event:
Administrator notes
Note that not all Administrators/Editors are able to publish, unpublish, archive or unarchive all in batch. This setting must first be switched on for your User Group (admin group) before you can see the actions in the context menu.
To activate the actions, they must first be toggled on in the “Users” section:
Users [section] > Groups > [select user group]:
Default permissions [panel] > Other: “Archive/Unarchive All” and/or “Publish/Unpublish All”:
Deleting images
Deleting an image
To delete an image, right-click the image node in the Media > Image library folder to open the actions menu. Select Delete then confirm deletion.
Note: We recommend you Unpublish or Archive the image rather than delete it, as it can be re-published again at a later date. Deleting an image will move it to the Recycle Bin and it will be permanently deleted when the Recycle Bin is emptied.
Note that items in the Recycle Bin are automatically deleted after 30 days.
Deleting in bulk
Images can also be deleted in bulk by selecting multiple items in the list view, or clicking the Select all checkbox – then Delete.
Generally, unpublished and/or archived images do not appear in the frontend. However, privileged member groups (Editors & Admins) can be given access to these unpublished/archived images without logging into the backoffice.
When given access, these member groups will see an additional image status drop-down list in the frontend.
The list allows images to be filtered by Published, Unpublished or Archived images.
Please note that you should not give all member groups access to these images, as they are still downloadable. This feature should be restricted to the key Admin group.
Enable access to “Unpublished” and “Archived” images
To enable Unpublished and Archived image access (assuming you have permission):
- Click the individual member group in the “Content > Settings > Member Groups” section.
- Select the “Settings” tab and toggle on “Can View Unpublished/Archived Assets”.
- Click Save and publish to enable the changes.
Members from that member group will now be able to view unpublished and archived images in the frontend via the drop-down list.
Next page: Expiring images
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